Ok so you announce via trade chat that the world's biggest event is taking place, the race of Azeroth. You look up specific grey level loot that can only be obtained at various different corners of the continents and announce them as a big treasure hunt. You stand upon an easily accessible monument, and claim the first person to trade you the items wins the prize, which is at your discretion.

Place participants into a raid if it makes it easier with spammed trades from non participating people a possibility. Then they can whisper you to trade with them. All other races seem to have a lag problem if they were neck and neck riding mounts with a finish line, so trading at the end makes sense to me.

Make sure the loot isn't available on the AH and perhaps if you were a little evil, place some on there yourself and make some money back if the race picks up a lot of interest.

Ok so you announce via trade chat that the world's biggest event is taking place, the race of Azeroth. You look up specific grey level loot that can only be obtained at various different corners of the continents and announce them as a big treasure hunt. You stand upon an easily accessible monument, and claim the first person to trade you the items wins the prize, which is at your discretion.

Place participants into a raid if it makes it easier with spammed trades from non participating people a possibility. Then they can whisper you to trade with them. All other races seem to have a lag problem if they were neck and neck riding mounts with a finish line, so trading at the end makes sense to me.

Make sure the loot isn't available on the AH and perhaps if you were a little evil, place some on there yourself and make some money back if the race picks up a lot of interest.

Dude... read the OP.

Originally Posted by Valerean

I admire your passion for your favorite character, but If I were you I'd hesitate before drawing parallels between self-perceived societal malaise and how nerds feel about a fictional blob of green pixels created in 2001 by a guy called Chris.

I played an RPG a long time ago called Exile wherein you fought evil unicorns. For some reason, I thought that was an awesome idea; what if unicorns weren't the cute and noble creatures everyone makes them out to be, but in fact, snarling, rapacious beasts?

In the Warcraft universe, unicorns are mythological beings, pure, sensitive to magic and very related to the holy light. No one knows for sure their origin as the only thing that is known is that their population dropped brutally following the Great Sundering ten thousand years ago.

The first appearances of unicorns in Azeroth date back to the arrival of the Quel'dorei to the Eastern Kingdoms. It is believed that unicorns inhabited the forests of the area known today as Quel'Thalas, an area linked to the magic from its origins. Presumably it was there where the Quel'dorei contacted the unicorns for the first time leading to a relationship that lasted millennia. It was to be expected that both species, elves and unicorns, feel mutual interest and respect because of their common affinity to magic.

Once Quel'dorei settled and founded their new home, they established strong links with these magical creatures. In fact, the high elves took the unicorns by allies, rather than mere animals, in a kind of natural symbiosis between the two magical creatures. Indeed, one could even say that the Quel'dorei lived in the company of unicorns in perfect harmony.

Such was the affinity they had, that the high elves established the unicorns as personal mounts, as traveling companions, and was so clear their deep admiration for these mystical creatures that the Quel'dorei even took the figure of a silver unicorn rampant as their racial symbol.

Later came the alliance between elves and the humans of the Arathor Empire to defeat the troll threat in the north. In consideration of this alliance, the elves taught to the humans the magic, and founded what is known today as the kingdom of Dalaran, a place where elves and humans lived and worked together studying magic. It was because of this relationship that unicorns also established some contact with the humans more sensitive to magic: the unicorns were indeed the preferred mounts of the Kirin Tor archmages as Antonidas himself made clear.

Gone are the days and the wars and at the end arrived what nobody expected, the decline of the Quel'dorei civilization: the Third War. Many unicorns perished in this war along with their elven allies at the hands of the Scourge, but all was not lost, there were some who survived the bloody battle: hope lay in them now.

However, the destruction of their source of power, the Sunwell, was a hard blow to the Quel'dorei: a large withdrawal syndrome hit them all, so much that this would mark a turning point in the elven race. The Quel'dorei, united for millennia, were divided into two groups: the Blood Elves and the High Elves, and between both groups the unicorns, alien to the policy of their allies.

The High Elves felt that the best way to deal with the magical withdrawal syndrome was the meditation and the self-control, and that the best way to honor their fallen was to try to overcome and restore their former glory. But the Blood Elves faced it differently, draining the magic of magical creatures and radically changing their habits and even the name of their own race to honor the fallen. Since then the two halves of the elven people have only distanced themselves even more to the point that today are irreconcilable.

The unicorns would remain being allies on both sides of the elf people were it not for a decision made by one of the two halves: absorb fel magic to satisfy their need for magic. The unicorns, sensitive to every magic manifestation and pure by nature, began to be aggressive against the Blood Elves due to their demonic taint, to the point that they no longer let be mounted by them and began to attack the Blood Elves.

Given this new situation the Blood Elves killed the unicorns which they said had become insane, absorbing the magic they contained in the act. Now both the unicorns, and the High Elves felt excluded and at risk, to the extent that they were forced to flee from their homes and stay in exile.

Blood elves took the hawkstriders as mounts, as their colorful plumage was more in tune with their new and extravagant customs and also taken as representative colors the crimson, gold and black and as their new racial symbol the Golden Phoenix, as an allegory of themselves: gloriously reborn from their ashes. The following events caused the blood elves allied with the Horde and that they deemed as traitors to their congeners who did not adapt to their new way of life.

The High Elves instead, now hidden and isolated took with them the surviving unicorns, which after all were their allies and sober mounts, and also they kept the aquamarine, turquoise and silver as their representative colors and logically they also kept their ancient symbol racial: the Silver Unicorn. Staying with the Alliance, their allies for ages, and faithful to their ancient customs, the High Elves considered the Blood Elves as traitors, since from their view they betrayed their race and, what is worse themselves.

The story goes that the High Elves still maintain a last bastion on the borders of Quel'Thalas, a place where even the unicorns run free for its green meadows and are trained as mounts, a place where even today elven destroyers are built, a place to which the High Elves can call home... in short: a last remnant of what was once the glorious Quel'dorei kingdom, a last place where the Silver Unicorn flag waves... Greenwood.

The question is: how long can they keep that utopian welfare?, Who will lead all high elves and give them hope for the future, or on the contrary, are both the unicorns and High Elves already doomed to extinction? Soon the answers...

About Greenwood

Mysteriously some High Elves have disappeared at the end of the expansion of Wrath of the Lich King. They have migrated, but where? If we combine this fact with that all the resources of the Silver Covenant (mounts, ships, war machines, etc.) do nothing but increase, and obviously, they have had to come from somewhere... it seems that the High Elves have at least a stronghold somewhere in Azeroth, with stables, shipyards, cities, etc., not being unreasonable to think that that hidden area, the last reserve of the High Elves of the Alliance, can be Greenwood.

Greenwood is an area not yet available in World of Warcraft but that we visited slightly in Warcraft 3. This area comes to be a natural sanctuary in every sense: barely tainted by the Scourge and the Burning Legion, aside from the progress of the Sylvanas' Forsaken and the adhesion attempts from the Blood Elves and well protected by its magnificent natural barriers.

Previously confused with Northeron, that area will be vital in the future: that area is Greenwood, last refuge of the Quel'dorei the last bastion of high elves in Azeroth.

Located in the northern part of the Plaguelands, right on the border between Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas is the home of the last High Elves of Azeroth. Characterized by its thick green forests, its steep and snowy mountains, its rivers and clear lakes, its fresh climate and especially the abundant mystical energy that pervades the place in every corner, in every millennial building and even in each of the unicorns that still gallop freely through its fields.

Ironically Greenwood has always been among the realms of the humans and the elves, in every way, hence its distinctive culture, where elves and humans intermingle in harmony. However, in recent times, after the events triggered by the Cataclysm that struck Azeroth, the High Elves have gone into action. The Silver Covenant was the example to follow; the Quel'dorei cannot remain indifferent and oblivious to the outside world events: they must organize and choose their position for the impending challenges ahead.

Will they remain true to their roots and customs and stay on the side of the Alliance as before? Or maybe will they forget the quarrels and reintegrate with the Blood Elves and join the Horde? Golden Phoenix or Silver Unicorn? That is the question...

Both for the one as for the other, a surname resound from afar: Windrunner. The return of Alleria will make the High Elves rethink many things... and the Blood Elves too...

Glory to the Quel'dorei! The banner of the silver unicorn will wave again! For the Alliance!

I think a race of playable unicorns is more likely than that outlandish multi-layered retcon of Thalassian elves being implemented.

I can't really think of a from-the-ground-up, totally novel race they could introduce, but in a fantasy setting, there's always a way to introduce Fae at some point. I stand by my answer on one of the "playable high elf" threads -- just steal something from another game and make it different enough. It's not like their races are any more original anyway, anything you'll find in a fantasy MMO right now is based on something in existing mythology or fiction. So make some Blizzard!Fae or Blizzard!Sylvari or Blizzard!Cathar.

A race of pale grey entities with hairless bodies, a little bit of a hunch, maybe about dwarf height. Lots of little black eyes on their heads and baleen style teeth, they live in mountains and grow big vats of algae and such to eat using shamanism. They have a bit of arcane magic too but mostly use it with regard to a sort of 'astromancy' rather than the fire/frost/arcane trees we understand.